The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
Northern Illinois
Volleyball's strong season ends in MAC quarterfinals
November 16 | Women's Volleyball
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GENEVA, Ohio – Akron volleyball's best season in the Ron Arenz era to date came to a close Friday morning, as the fifth-seeded Zips fell in four sets to No. 4 Northern Illinois in the Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinals.
For just the second time this year, the Zips were unable to close out a match after winning the first set. Final scores were 25-20, 20-25, 23-25, 18-25.
Alex Cocklin led four Zips that finished with double-digit kills, posting a match-high 18. In the final match of their careers, Tina Dimitrijevs and Chelsea Harvey put up 10 kills each, and were joined by Alex Wiederholt with 10 more.
The two teams were fairly evenly matched across the stat line for the match, but Akron struggled to convert down the stretch.
Playing the caliber of volleyball that earned them their spot in the tournament, the Zips dominated the first set, hitting .344 to fight through seven tie scores.
The Huskies had no answer for Cocklin from the outside – the junior delivered six of her kills in the opening period. As a team, UA played a nearly flawless game, with only a single attack error and zero miscues on the receiving end. In Cinderella story fashion, freshman Kelsey Wilson put the icing on the cake with a solid service ace to win the set for the Zips.
Despite out-hitting NIU .333 to .243 in the second set, Akron came up on the short end of the stick with the score reversed. Several UA errors late in the set allowed Northern to sneak by to tie the match at one.
Momentum began to shift after the break when Akron fell victim to a 6-0 NIU run midway through the third set. The Zips fought back with three straight points to tie the score at 18, and would eventually take up a one-point advantage at 22-21.
Northern countered with three consecutive points of its own for a set point situation, and although an error prolonged the result, the Huskies went up two sets to one on the following Akron unforced error.
The Zips could not get anything by NIU in the fourth and final set, falling behind early to quickly find themselves in a game of catch up. UA threatened at match point, regaining its footing for four straight scores to rattle the Huskies for the first time in the set, but an attack error would give the set and the match to the higher seed.
Akron ends the 2012 campaign with its best record in nine years at 16-13 overall and 9-7 in the conference. The Zips' MAC Tournament berth was also the team's first appearance in the quarterfinals in nine seasons.
